Anita Campbell, Founder, CEO and Editor in Chief of Small Business Trends

Since I’ve been at Research In Motion® (RIM®), I’ve been very lucky to be able to work directly with quite a few small business owners and small-medium business (SMB) experts. At the moment, RIM is the premiere sponsor of the Top 100 SMB Influencers Contest, being conducted by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.com. Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends and Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com have been writing articles, creating tools and speaking at events for years, with a mission to make it easier than ever for small businesses to thrive in today’s economy. I’ve watched their work from afar for quite some time, so I’m thrilled to interview Anita about the SMB Influencer contest.

Anita, can you give our readers an overview of what the Top 100 SMB Influencers contest is all about?

The Top 100 Small Business Influencers contest recognizes the companies, people and organizations that support the small business community in the United States and Canada. The requirements to be nominated are that the person, company or organization must have accomplished or produced something that positively impacts a group of small businesses. I am thrilled with the response — so far there have been nearly 400 nominations.

After nominations close, there will be a voting period to choose the Top 100 Small Business Influencers.

How do you think it benefits the small business community to have these SMB Influencers?

A lot is said about small businesses being the lifeblood of the economy and unsung heroes – and that’s true. But the entities and people who make it their missions to serve small businesses sometimes get even less recognition. My partner in this initiative, Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com, and I thought we should do something about that.